Anne Tyler’s beautifully written tale of the Whitshank family “untangles the threads that bind and sometimes choke all of them.” (Library Journal)

Whether you’re still waiting to read “A Spool of Blue Thread,” or already read and loved it, we think you’ll also enjoy these character-driven family stories:

 

After This
by Alice McDermott

A portrait of an American family during the middle decades of the twentieth century evokes the social, spiritual, and political turmoil of the era as seen through the experiences of a middle-class couple and their children.

 

 

Olive Kitteridge
by Elizabeth Strout

In 13 linked stories that delineate the life and times of fussy but sympathetic Olive Kitteredge, Strout beautifully captures the sticky little issues of small-town life-and the entire universe of human longing, dis-appointment, and love.

 

 

Gilead
by Marilynne Robinson

As his life winds down, Rev. John Ames relates the story of his own father and grandfather, both preachers but one a pacifist and one a gun-toting abolitionist.

 

 

 

We are Not Ourselves
by Matthew Thomas

Eileen Tumulty, raised by immigrant parents in Woodside, NY, in the ’40s/50s, is determined not to settle for some boisterous, glad-handing type. Serious-minded scientist Ed Leary seems exactly the right sort to carry her to the larger world, but their marriage founders as she realizes that he really doesn’t care about increasingly bigger, better homes, cars, and jobs.

 

 

Widow for One Year
by John Irving

A girl discovers her mother in bed with a teenage boy; later the mother abandons her. Meanwhile, her father is seducing young girls. So begins the story of Ruth Cole, a famous writer struggling to overcome childhood traumas and find love.